Understanding Customer Experience Throughout the Customer Journey

Author(s): Katherine N. Lemon and Peter C. Verhoef

Source: Journal of Marketing , November 2016, Vol. 80, No. 6, AMA and MSI Special
Issue of "Journal of Marketing" | Mapping the Boundaries of Marketing: What Needs to
Be Known (November 2016), pp. 69-96
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 Katherine N. Lemon & Peter C. Verhoef

Understanding Customer Experience

Throughout the Customer Journey
Understanding customer experience and the customer journey over time is critical for firms. Customers now interact
with firms through myriad touch points in multiple channels and media, and customer experiences are more social in
nature. These changes require firms to integrate multiple business functions, and even external partners, in creating
and delivering positive customer experiences. In this article, the authors aim to develop a stronger understanding of
customer experience and the customer journey in this era of increasingly complex customer behavior. To achieve this
goal, they examine existing definitions and conceptualizations of customer experience as a construct and provide a
historical perspective of the roots of customer experience within marketing. Next, they attempt to bring together what is
currently known about customer experience, customer journeys, and customer experience management. Finally, they
identify critical areas for future research on this important topic.

Keywords : customer experience, customer journey, marketing strategy, customer experience management, touch
points

The increasing focus on customer experience arises be-

management objective. According to a recent study
Creating by management Accenture
by Accenture (2015;a instrong objective.with(2015;
cooperation
Forrester),
improving the customer experience received the most number
one rankings when executives were asked about their top
priorities for the next 12 months. Multiple firms, such as
KPMG, Amazon, and Google, now have chief customer
experience officers, customer experience vice presidents,
or customer experience managers responsible for creat-
ing and managing the experience of their customers.
Schmitt (1999) was one of the first scholars to emphasize
the importance of customer experience, and Pine and
Gilmore (1998) specifically address the importance of
experiences in today's society and the opportunities for
firms to benefit from creating strong and enduring cus-
tomer experiences. Marketing science, and specifically
customer management, has been slow to adopt these devel-
opments in the marketing literature. Attention in customer
management has mainly centered on customers' value cre-
ation for firms, with a focus on metrics such as customer
lifetime value (CLV) (Gupta, Lehmann, and Stuart 2004;
Kumar and Shah 2009) instead of value creation for cus-
tomers (Bügel 2010; Kumar and Reinartz 2016).
Katherine N. Lemon is Accenture Professor in Marketing, Carroll School
of Management, Boston College (e-mail: kay.lemon@bc.edu). Peter C.
Verhoef is Professor of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business,
University of Groningen (e-mail: p.c.verhoef@rug.nl). Both authors
contributed equally to the development of this article. They thank Nancy
Sirianni and Arne de Keyser for their helpful comments on a previous
draft of this paper, as well as the seminar participants at Leeds Uni-
versity, Rotterdam School of Management, and Bocconi University for
their feedback. They also acknowledge the comments of participants of
the MSI Frontiers in Marketing Conference 2015 at Carroll School
of Management, Boston College.
cause customers now interact with firms through myriad
customer in cooperation According experience to is with a now recent Forrester), a leading study
touch points in multiple channels and media, resulting in
more complex customer journeys. Firms are confronted with
accelerating media and channel fragmentation, and omni-
channel management has become the new norm (Brynjolfsson,
Hu, and Rahman 2013; Verhoef, Kannan, and Inman 2015).
Moreover, customer-to-customer interactions through social
media are creating significant challenges and opportunities
for firms (Leeflang et al. 2013; Libai et al. 2010). Customer
experiences are more social in nature, and peer customers are
influencing experiences as well. Firms also have much less
control, overall, of the customer experience and the customer
journey, resulting in behaviors such as showrooming (e.g.,
Brynjolfsson, Hu, and Rahman 2013; Rapp et al. 2015). The
explosion in potential customer touch points and the reduced
control of the experience require firms to integrate multiple
business functions, including information technology (IT), ser-
vice operations, logistics, marketing, human resources, and even
external partners, in creating and delivering positive customer
experiences. Thus, it has become increasingly complex for firms
to create, manage, and attempt to control the experience and
journey of each customer (e.g., Edelman and Singer 2015;
Rawson, Duncan, and Jones 2013.
To date, researchers have mainly focused on exploratory
attempts to conceptualize and measure customer experience
(e.g., Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello 2009; Grewal, Levy,
and Kumar 2009; Pucinelli et al. 2009; Verhoef et al. 2009).
The Marketing Science Institute (2014, 2016) views customer
experience as one of its most important research challenges
in the coming years, likely because of the increasing number
and complexity of customer touch points and the belief that
creating strong, positive experiences within the customer
journey will result in improvements to the bottom line by
improving performance in the customer journey at multiple

© 2016, American Marketing Association Journal of Marketing: AM A/MSI Special Issue

ISSN: 0022-2429 (print) Vol. 80 (November 2016), 69-96
1547-7185 (electronic) 69 DOI: 1 0.1 509/jm. 15.0420

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touch points (i.e., higher conversion rates) and through im-
proved customer loyalty and word of mouth (Court et al.
2009; Edelman 2010; Homburg, Jozić, and Kuehnl 2015).
An important question, however, is how novel the customer
experience focus actually is; it seems highly related to prior
and existing research streams within marketing, such as cus-
tomer satisfaction, service quality, relationship marketing,
customer relationship management, customer centricity,
and customer engagement.
Given the relatively nascent state of the customer expe-
rience literature, there is limited empirical work directly related
to customer experience and the customer journey. There is,
however, a broad and deep set of research investigating
specific facets of what is now being called "customer expe-
rience." Thus, our goal in this article is to bring together the
research that does exist on customer experience, to understand
its origins and roots, to place it in context, and to identify
critical gaps in our understanding. Through this process, we
aim to develop a stronger understanding of customer expe-
rience in an era of increasingly complex customer behavior.
Because "customer experience" has recently become one of
the major buzzwords in marketing, it is useful to attempt to
bring together what we know to provide a solid theoretical
perspective on this topic. To do so, we organize the paper as
follows. First, we define customer experience and examine
existing definitions of customer experience as a construct.
Second, we link customer experience to other, more deeply
studied aspects of marketing and provide a historical per-
spective on customer experience within marketing. Third, we
identify what is known about customer experience, discussing
the limited extant findings on customer experience, customer
journeys, and customer experience management. Fourth, from
what is known, we highlight key insights and important lessons
for marketing practice. Finally, we set forth a research agenda
on customer experience, customer journeys, and customer
experience management.
Customer Experience Defined
Early on, Abbott (1955) and Alderson (1957) focused on the
broader notion that "what people really desire are not prod-
ucts but satisfying experiences" (Abbot 1955, p. 40). Fur-
thering this path, experiential theorists in the 1980s (e.g.,
Hirschman and Holbrook 1982; Holbrook and Hirschman
1982; Thompson, Locander, and Pollio 1989) encouraged a
broader view of human behavior, especially recognizing the
importance of the emotional aspects of decision making and
experience. Marketing practice has also embraced the study
of customer experience. Pine and Gilmore (1998, p. 3) con-
ceptualized the idea of "experiences" as distinct from goods
and services, noting that a consumer purchases an experience
to "spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a
company stages ... to engage him in an inherently personal
way." Other researchers, however, have argued for a much
broader view of the customer experience. Schmitt, Brakus, and
Zarantonello (2015) suggest that every service exchange leads
to a customer experience, regardless of its nature and form. This
expansive perspective considers customer experience holistic
in nature, incorporating the customer's cognitive, emotional,
70 1 Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, November 2016
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sensory, social, and spiritual responses to all interactions
with a firm (e.g., Bolton et al. 2014; Gentile, Spiller, and
Noci 2007; Lemke, Clark, and Wilson 201 1; Verhoef et al.
2009). Recent business practice has also broadly defined
the customer experience as "encompassing every aspect of a
company's offering - the quality of customer care, of course,
but also advertising, packaging, product and service features,
ease of use, and reliability. It is the internal and subjective
response customers have to any direct or indirect contact with
a company" (Meyer and Schwager 2007, p. 2).
Multiple definitions of customer experience exist in the
literature. In this article, we focus on the major accepted def-
initions. Schmitt (1999) takes a multidimensional view and
identifies five types of experiences: sensory (sense), affective
(feel), cognitive (think), physical (act), and social-identity
(relate) experiences. Verhoef et al. (2009, p. 32) explicitly
define customer experience in a retailing context as a multi-
dimensional construct and specifically state that the customer
experience construct is holistic in nature and involves the
customer's cognitive, affective, emotional, social, and physical
responses to the retailer. In their study on brand experience,
Brakus, Schmitt, and Zarantonello (2009, p. 53) conceptualize
brand experience as subjective, internal consumer responses
(sensations, feelings, and cognitions) and behavioral responses
evoked by brand-related stimuli that are part of a brand's
design. They conceptualize and show that brand experience
consists of four separate, though related, dimensions: sensory,
affective, intellectual, and behavioral (for a further discussion,
we refer to Schmitt [201 1]). Grewal, Levy, and Kumar (2009)
suggest that in a retailing context, customer experiences can
be categorized along the lines of the retail mix (i.e., price
experience, promotion experience). De Keyser et al. (2015,
p. 23) describe customer experience as "comprised of the
cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial, spiritual, and social
elements that mark the customer's direct or indirect interaction
with (an)other market actor(s)" - in essence, the raw data
contained in all direct or indirect interactions that then come
together as an overall experience. Similarly, considering
technology as an experience, McCarthy and Wright (2004)
identify what they call the four threads of experience, ideas
that help us to think more clearly about technology as expe-
rience: the sensual, the emotional, the compositional, and the
spatio-temporal.
The design, delivery, and management of the customer
experience can be viewed from multiple perspectives: from the
firm's point of view, with the firm essentially designing and
crafting an experience for the customer to receive (Berry,
Carbone, and Haeckel 2002; Stuart and Tax 2004); from the
customer's point of view (Schmitt 201 1); or from a cocreation
perspective, in which the customer experience is deemed a
culmination of a customer's interaction with other actors in a
broader ecosystem, while recognizing the customer's role in the
coconstruction of the experience (Chandler and Lusch 2015;
De Keyser et al. 2015; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2003).
In general, scholars and practitioners have come to agree
that the total customer experience is a multidimensional con-
struct that involves cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sensorial,
and social components (Schmitt 1999, 2003; Verhoef et al.
2009). However, an experience may relate to specific aspects
of the offering, such as a brand (e.g., Brakus, Schmitt,
and Zarantonello 2009) or technology (e.g., McCarthy and
Wright 2004), and it consists of individual contacts between
the firm and the customer at distinct points in the experience,
called touch points (Homburg et al. 2015; Schmitt 2003). An
experience is also built up through a collection of these
touch points in multiple phases of a customer's decision
process or purchase journey (Pucinelli et al. 2009; Verhoef
et al. 2009). Overall, we thus conclude that customer expe-
rience is a multidimensional construct focusing on a cus-
tomer's cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sensorial, and social
responses to a firm's offerings during the customer's entire
purchase journey.
The Roots of Customer Experience
in Marketing
A key question is whether customer experience, as a topic, is
really new. It seeks to integrate multiple long-lasting con-
cepts within the marketing literature but, at the same time, to
disregard or depreciate strong established concepts in mar-
keting, such as customer satisfaction, service quality, rela-
tionship marketing, and customer equity. We contend that to
truly understand and appreciate the renewed focus on cus-
tomer experience, we need to understand its roots - and to
identify and recognize the contributions of these established
research areas to customer experience.
We trace the roots of customer experience to the 1960s,
when the initial seminal theories on marketing and consumer
behavior were developed and communicated, specifically, the
work of Philip Kotier (1967) and John Howard and Jagdish
Sheth (1969). We then identify important subsequent devel-
opments in and contributions to customer experience research:
• Customer buying behavior process models : understanding
customer experience and customer decision making as a
process (1960s-1970s)
• Customer satisfaction and loyalty : assessing and evaluating
customer perceptions and attitudes about an experience (1970s)
• Service quality, identifying the specific context and ele-
ments of the customer experience and mapping the customer
journey (1980s)
• Relationship marketing : broadening the scope of customer
responses considered in the customer experience (1990s)
• Customer relationship management (CRM): linkage models to
identify how specific elements of the customer experience
influence each other and business outcomes (2000s)
• Customer centricity and customer focus: focusing on the
interdisciplinary and organizational challenges associated
with successfully designing and managing customer expe-
rience (2000s-2010s)
• Customer engagement : recognizing the customer' s role in the
experience (2010s)
Customer Buying Behavior Process Models
The resurgence of customer experience and the recent focus
on customer decision journeys suggest that firms are broad-
ening their thinking about marketing and considering how
to design and manage the entire process the customer goes
through. Initial theories in marketing began in the 1960s,
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focusing on discussions of customer decision processes and
experience when buying products. Integrated models showing
this buying process, in which customers move from need
recognition to purchase to evaluation of the purchased prod-
uct, were developed. The most influential model in this re-
gard is Howard and Sheth' s (1969) model. Also in this stage
were models suggesting how advertising works, including the
still-used attention-interest-desire-action (AIDA) model and
adaptations thereof (Lavidge and Steiner 1961). In business-
to-business (B2B) marketing, Webster and Wind (1972) dis-
cussed the buying process of business customers and the
important role of the buying team (see also theory of business
buying behavior [Sheth 1973]).
These broad, encompassing theories are still very influential
and have gained a strong foothold in multichannel research and
path-to-purchase modeling, and they provide a foundation for
research in customer experience management. For example, in
their conceptual model of multichannel customer management,
Neslin et al. (2006) build on Howard and Sheth' s (1969) model
by suggesting a process from problem recognition to search to
purchase and to after-sales using multiple channels. Pucinelli
et al. (2009) and Verhoef et al. (2009) also strongly consider
the purchase journey in their treatment of customer experience.
Schmitt (2003, p. 68) builds upon this process approach, noting
that "the key objective of tracking the experience at customer
touch points is to develop an understanding of how an expe-
rience can be enriched for the customer throughout what mar-
keters call the 'customer decision-making process.'" Within
path-to-purchase models and customer experience manage-
ment, the so-called purchase or marketing funnel (which is
strongly linked to the AIDA model) has become extremely
popular (e.g., Court et al. 2009; De Haan, Wiesel, and Pauwels
2016; Li and Kannan 2014).
Overall, the influence of these early consumer decision-
making process models on customer experience research can
be easily seen. Specifically, these models provide the foun-
dation for thinking holistically about the customer experience,
as a process that consumers go through, what we now call the
"customer decision journey" or "customer purchase journey."
Throughout this article, we will refer to customer experience
as a multidimensional construct (defined above) and will refer
to the customer purchase journey as the process a customer
goes through, across all stages and touch points, that makes up
the customer experience.
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
One key element of understanding and managing customer
experience is the ability to measure and monitor customer
reactions to firm offerings, especially customer attitudes and
perceptions. One such assessment is that of customer satis-
faction, the conceptualization of which began in the 1970s.
Satisfaction has primarily been conceptualized as resulting
from a comparison of the actual delivered performance with
customer expectations. This disconfirmation (positive or neg-
ative) has been empirically shown to create customer sat-
isfaction. Researchers have discussed several ways to measure
satisfaction, including rather focused measurement (i.e., "How
satisfied are you about XXX?"; Bolton 1998), with more
Understanding Customer Experience / 71
extensive measurements using multiple items that also in-
clude customer emotions (such as happiness; e.g., Oliver 1980;
Westbrook and Oliver 1991). Nonlinear effects of satisfaction
and the importance of customer delight have also received
attention (e.g., Anderson and Mittal 2000; Oliver, Rust, and
Varki 1997; Rust and Oliver 2000; Schneider and Bowen
1999). Studies have extensively assessed and confirmed the
effects of satisfaction on customer behavior and firm perfor-
mance, and they serve as early evidence of empirical linkage
models to identify key drivers and consequences of satisfac-
tion (e.g., Anderson, Fornell, and Mazvancheryl 2004; Bolton
and Drew 1991; Gupta and Zeithaml 2006). Customer satis-
faction measurement has become a rather standard practice
within marketing, although other assessments and metrics
have gained traction over time. For example, Reichheld (2003)
strongly argues for replacing customer satisfaction with the
Net Promoter Score (NPS).1 Customer satisfaction and other
approaches to assessing customer perceptions of the custom-
er's experience serve as additional critical building blocks to
our overall understanding of customer experience and provide
the basis for its measurement.
Service Quality
Service marketing developed as a separate discipline in the
1980s. With the special characteristics of service offerings
(e.g., intangibility, personal interactions), firms began recog-
nizing that marketing service was significantly different than
marketing goods (Rathmell 1966; Rust and Chung 2006;
Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler 2006). One of the major con-
cepts within service marketing that has garnered significant
attention is service quality (Kunz and Hogreve 201 1). Since the
development of the SERVQUAL model and measurement
scales by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988), many
studies have tried to validate and improve that scale (e.g.,
Cronin and Taylor 1992, 1994), and many applications in
specific contexts (e.g., e-service quality) have been advanced
(e.g., Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra 2005; Wolfinbarger
and Gilly 2003). The SERVQUAL model, in particular, is one
of the marketing theories that have had a major influence in
practice (Roberts, Kayandé, and Stremersch 2014). In the area
of service marketing, we also observe the development of
service blueprinting as an initial attempt to map the customer
journey (Bitner, Ostrom, and Morgan 2008); early recognition
of the importance of so-called moments of truth, or critical in-
cidents in service delivery; and incorporation of atmospherics
and the environment as influences on the customer experience
(e.g., Bitner 1990, 1992). Taken together, the service quality
literature stream brings to customer experience the focus on
(1) the context in which experiences arise and (2) the journey
mapping and measurement/assessment aspects of customer
experience.
Relationship Marketing
The 1990s witnessed emerging attention on developing
strong relationships with customers. Relationship marketing
!We discuss metrics in much more detail in the "Customer Expe-
rience Measurement" section.
72 1 Journal of Marketing: AM A/MSI Special Issue, November 2016
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developed mainly in B2B and marketing channels research
(e.g., Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh 1987; Geyskens, Steenkamp,
and Kumar 1998; Morgan and Hunt 1994). However, it also
gained a strong position within consumer markets (Berry
1995; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995), and relationship market-
ing theories have been tested extensively in business-to-
consumer settings as well (e.g., Burnham, Frels, and Mahajan
2003; De Wulf, Odekerken-Schröder, and Iacobucci 2001;
Verhoef 2003). Major constructs that have been considered
include trust, commitment (in its multiple dimensions),
switching costs, and relationship quality (as an overarching
construct). Specifically, in the B2B and channel contexts,
transaction cost theory-based constructs, such as relationship-
specific investments and opportunism, have been treated as
antecedents of relationship quality (Palmatier, Gopalakrishna,
and Houston 2006). Encouraged by a stronger attention
in economics and marketing and consumer research (e.g.,
Bagozzi, Gopinath, and Nyer 1999; Frey and Stutzer 2002),
researchers also have recently suggested the need for more
attention on emotional aspects of customer relationships
(Verhoef and Lemon 2015) and have begun measuring
constructs such as passion and intimacy (Bügel, Verhoef,
and Buunk 201 1; Yim, Tse, and Chan 2008). In summary,
relationship marketing theory has significantly enriched the
understanding of different theoretical facets of the customer
relationship, extending the focus of customer experience
to include emotions and perceptions associated with the
experience.
Customer Relationship Management
The 2000s brought forth a stronger focus on value extrac-
tion from the customer relationship. Whereas in relationship
marketing, the focus is mainly on building strong long-term
relationships with customers, CRM and customer value
management center more on the optimization of customer
profitability and CLV (e.g., Kumar and Reinartz 2006;
Reinartz, Krafft, and Hoyer 2004). For example, in their
definition of CRM, Payne and Frow (2005) call for form-
ing appropriate relationships with customers, implying that a
long-term and strong relationship is no longer the ultimate
objective. Research has also shown that long-term relation-
ships are not necessarily more profitable and that there is
strong revenue and cost heterogeneity between customers
(Reinartz and Kumar 2000; Shah, Kumar, and Kim 2014;
Shah et al. 2012). Following this theme, multiple studies have
considered how firms can optimize customer acquisition,
customer retention, and development strategies in such a
way as to optimize the extracted CLV, which can result in
shareholder value creation (e.g., Kumar and Shah 2009;
Lewis 2006; Reinartz, Thomas, and Kumar 2005; Shah et al.
2006; Venkatesan and Kumar 2004). However, researchers
might dispute whether these strategies have a sufficient
focus on the value being delivered to customers. To
address this limitation, the customer equity framework,
introduced by Rust, Zeithaml, and Lemon (2000), with
its key concepts of value equity, brand equity, and re-
lationship equity as drivers of customer equity, links
investments in quality, brands, and relationships to CLV
(see also Rust, Lemon, and Zeithaml 2004; Verhoef 2003; definitions have been put forth for customer engagement,
Zeithaml 1988). In recent studies, Ou et al. (2014) and Ou, focusing on attitudes, behaviors, and value extraction. Overall,
Verhoef, and Wiesel (2016) provide additional support for customer engagement attempts to distinguish customer
this framework. The CRM literature's contribution to cus- attitudes and behaviors that go beyond purchase. Focusing
tomer experience focuses on how specific elements of the on an attitudinal perspective, Brodie et al. (2011, p. 260)
customer experience relate to one another and to business define customer engagement as "a psychological state that
outcomes (see also Bolton 2016). occurs by virtue of interactive, cocreative customer experi-
ences with a focal agent/object (e.g., a brand) in focal service
Customer Centricity and Customer Focus relationships." This approach suggests that engagement is a
The notion of customer centricity as a valuable strategic ap- motivational state that leads customers to participate with
proach has been proposed, implemented, and debated since firms. Building upon this, Vivek, Beatty, and Morgan (2012,
the 2000s. Sheth, Sisodia, and Sharma (2000) focus on p. 133) provide an extensive review of the engagement lit-
customer-centric marketing, an approach that centers on erature and define customer engagement as "the intensity of
understanding and delivering value to individual customers an individual's participation in and connection with an
rather than mass or target markets. Although it has been organization's offerings or organizational activities, which
encouraged for several decades, this focus on individual either the customer or the organization initiates." This view
customers has come to fruition with the ubiquitous availability is consistent with that of Van Doom et al. (2010, p. 253),
of individual-level customer data. More broadly, there has who focus on the nontransactional nature of customer
also been a movement toward customer focus and customer engagement by putting forth the concept of customer en-
centricity at the overall firm level, most notably put forth gagement behavior, defined as "the customer's behavioral
by Gulati and Oldroyd (2005), who identify a four-stage path manifestation toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, re-
to a customer-focused culture: (1) communal collaboration: sulting from motivational drivers." This approach has been
collation of all customer information; (2) serial coordination: extended, especially as the digital and social media revolution
gaining insights into customers from past behavior and all has strengthened the importance of customer engagement
information; (3) symbiotic coordination: developing an under- behavior, as customers become active coproducers of value
standing of likely future customer behavior; and (4) integral or destroyers of value for firms (Beckers, Risselada, and
coordination: real-time response to customer needs (Gulati and Verhoef 2014; Bolton 2016, Leeflang et al. 2014; Van Doom
Oldroyd 2005, p. 97). More recently, Fader (2012, p. 9) brings et al. 2010; Verhoef, Reinartz, and Krafft 2010). Such
these two approaches together, focusing on customer centricity developments have empowered customers to engage more
as a strategy that aligns a company's products and services with with firms, either positively or negatively. This "beyond
the needs of its most valuable customers to maximize the long- purchase" behavioral dimension of customer engagement
term financial value of those customers. This shift has enabled includes manifestations, such as cocreation, social influence
organizations to be more ready for the interdisciplinary and through word of mouth, and customer referrals (e.g., Hoyer
cross-functional coordination required to design, understand, et al. 2010; Libai et al. 2010).
and manage customer experience. Recent studies have also attempted to measure customer
Several managerial tools have been developed to facili- engagement (e.g., Brodie et al. 2013; Hollebeek, Glynn, and
tate the shift to customer centricity. The first tool is buyer (or Brodie 2014; Calder, Isaac, and Malthouse 2016) and to
customer) personas. A persona is "a semi-fictional repre- examine how firms can benefit from customer engagement
sentation of your ideal customer based on market research (Kumar and Pansari 2016). These customer engagement
and real data about your existing customers" (Kusinitz 2014). behaviors also have value extraction consequences. Kumar
Personas have traditionally been used in user-centered design et al. (2010), for example, identify four components of cus-
(Pruitt and Adlin 2006) but have increasingly been incor- tomer engagement value: customer purchasing behavior, cus-
porated into brand management and customer experience tomer referral behavior, customer influencer behavior, and
design (Herskovitz and Crystal 2010). They focus on a customer knowledge behavior. Further research has refined
specific customer segment, identifying key aspects of that and begun to measure these aspects of engagement value,
segment's typical customer's needs and experiences. A such as customer referral value and customer influence value
second tool is the "jobs-to-be-done" perspective proposed (e.g., Kumar, Petersen, and Leone 2010; Kumar et al. 2013).
by Christensen and colleagues (Christensen, Cook, and Hall
2005; Christensen et al. 2007; Nobel 2011). Christensen's
Customer Experience and Earlier Theories
approach focuses on examining and understanding the cir-
cumstances that arise in customers' lives that may lead them An important issue is how customer experience relates to
to purchase a product, thereby regarding the process truly the major theories discussed above and specific customer-
from the customer perspective. Taken together, the foregoing focused constructs. We have aimed to synthesize the major
discussion showcases how customer-centricity has set the contributions of each of the discussed streams and how they
stage for a renewed focus on the customer experience. infuse the understanding of customer experience as well as
the management of customer experience (see Table 1). As
Customer Engagement we look across the decades of research, we can broadly cat-
In the current decade, the major movement in customer man- egorize the research themes into three research areas: (1)
agement has been on customer and brand engagement. Several research focused on process, behavior, and resulting value:

Understanding Customer Experience 1 73

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the early consumer buying behavior process models, CRM, experience is broadening the concept of customer satisfac-
and customer engagement; (2) research focused on process tion, leading to a richer view. Service quality (and its con-
outcomes: satisfaction, service quality, and relationship mar- stituent elements) would be considered an antecedent of
keting; and (3) customer-centricity research focused on the customer experience, in line with earlier research (e.g., Mittal,
internal organizational aspects of customer experience. The Kumar, and Tsiros 1999). Second, it could be argued that
first research stream, focused on process, provides a solid constructs in relationship marketing, such as trust and com-
foundation for the idea that customer experience is created mitment, are also related to customer experience and may
through the purchase journey. This is clearly acknowledged influence a customer's follow-on experiences. Commitment,
in both the academic customer experience literature (e.g., as a measure of a customer's connection with a company,
Pucinelli et al. 2009; Verhoef et al. 2009) and the managerial- would typically be a consequence of customer experience.
oriented customer experience literature (e.g., Edelman and Trust, as an overall assessment of a firm's reliability and
Singer 2015; Rawson, Duncan, and Jones 2013). These benevolence, would primarily be considered a state vari-
managerial contributions emphasize the importance of dif- able that does not directly influence a customer's expe-
ferent touch points in the customer journey and the noted rience in a customer journey (e.g., Geyskens, Steenkamp,
increasing complexity of managing the customer experience and Kumar 1998). A good customer experience might,
across all these touch points. Moreover, from a customer however, build trust. Still, one could argue that trust can
engagement perspective, customers can also be cocreators influence experience because it reduces cognitive effort
of their customer experience. The second research stream and attention paid to monitoring a relationship, as well as
mainly focuses on process outcomes and the measurement influencing the experience via a "halo effect." Third, prior
of these outcomes, such as satisfaction and service quality. research has suggested that customer experience - in partic-
This research stream also emphasizes the link of customer ular, brand experience - is distinct from other brand-focused
experience with behavioral outcomes. Prior research has concepts such as brand involvement and brand attach-
suggested that the customer's assessment of an experience ment (Brakus et al. 2009). Fourth, customer experience is
influences key outcomes such as customer satisfaction, related to the emerging construct of customer engagement.
customer loyalty, word of mouth, customer profitability, and Customer engagement focuses on the extent to which the
CLV (e.g., Bolton 1998; Bolton, Lemon, and Verhoef 2004; customer reaches out to and initiates contact with the firm,
Verhoef 2003). Although we do not focus in depth on these whether attitudinally or behaviorally. As such "reaching out"
outcomes here (see Kumar and Reinartz 2016), we do con- (or engagement) constitutes touch points along the customer
sider such outcomes when discussing the predictive quality journey and results in cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sen-
of metrics used to measure the customer experience. The sorial, and social responses on the part of the customer, cus-
third research stream is helpful in delineating how firms tomer engagement becomes a part of the overall customer
can manage the customer experience both internally and experience and, in its specific manifestations, constitutes
externally with other stakeholders (e.g., Homburg, Jozić, specific touch points along the customer journey. To date,
and Kuehnl 2015). studies have neglected this connectedness (for a call for such
In the remainder of this article, we discuss the extant research, see Malthouse and Calder 201 1), but given that many
knowledge on customer experience in each of these research channels and touch points are highly interactive and provide
domains, referred to as (1) customer experience and the cus- multiple opportunities for customers to engage with the firm,
tomer journey, (2) customer experience measurement, and it is important to consider customer engagement in the de-
(3) customer experience management. We next discuss how velopment of customer experience theory. Thus, we view
customer experience can be considered distinct from other customer engagement emerging as a component of cus-
constructs in marketing. tomer experience through specific interactional touch points,
such as social communities and interactions with service
employees or other customers. To date, no research has clearly
shown the nomological network of customer experience and
Customer Experience as a how this construct relates to other customer-focused con-
Distinct Construct structs. This is a critical issue for future research; however, it is
As we have discussed, the current literature states that beyond
cus- the scope of this work.
tomer experience is a multidimensional construct focusing on
a customer's cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sensorial, and
social responses to a firm's offerings during the customer's Customer Experience and the
entire purchase journey. For a further understanding of the Customer Journey
customer experience construct, which is relatively broad, it is
useful to attempt to differentiate it from other customer- Stages of the Total Customer Experience:
focused constructs. First, it is helpful to understand how The Customer Journey
customer experience is related to more focused constructs,We conceptualize customer experience as a customer's "jour-
such as customer satisfaction and service quality. Customer
ney" with a firm over time during the purchase cycle across
satisfaction could be one of the components of customer multiple touch points. We also conceptualize the total
experience, focusing on the customer's cognitive evalua-
customer experience as a dynamic process. The customer
tion of the experience. One could even argue that customer
experience process flows from prepurchase (including search)

74 1 Journal of Marketing: AM A/MSI Special Issue, November 2016

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Understan

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to purchase to postpurchase; it is iterative and dynamic. This
process incorporates past experiences (including previous
purchases) as well as external factors. In each stage, customers
experience touch points, only some of which are under the
firm's control. This process (summarized in Figure 1) may
function as a guide to empirically examining customer expe-
riences over time during the customer journey, as well as to
empirically modeling the effects of different touch points on
the customer's experience.
Purchase Phases in the Customer Journey
As shown in Figure 1 and consistent with prior research
(Howard and Sheth 1969; Neslin et al. 2006; Pucinelli et al.
2009), customer experience can be conceptualized in three
overall stages: prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase. Much
current work in the area of customer experience examines the
entire, holistic customer journey. However, these three stages
make the process slightly more manageable (see also Schmitt
2003)2
Prepurchase. The first stage - prepurchase - encompasses
all aspects of the customer's interaction with the brand, cat-
egory, and environment before a purchase transaction. Tra-
ditional marketing literature has characterized prepurchase as
behaviors such as need recognition, search, and considera-
tion. In theory, this stage could include the customer's entire
experience before purchase. Practically, however, this stage
encompasses the customer's experience from the beginning
of the need/goal/impulse recognition to consideration of sat-
isfying that need/goal/impulse with a purchase (e.g., Hoyer
1984; Pieters, Baumgartner, and Allen 1995).
Purchase. The second stage - purchase - covers all cus-
tomer interactions with the brand and its environment during
the purchase event itself. It is characterized by behaviors
such as choice, ordering, and payment. Although this stage
is typically the most temporally compressed of the three
stages, it has received a significant amount of attention in the
marketing literature, which has focused on how marketing
activities (e.g., the marketing mix [Kotier and Keller 2015])
and the environment and atmospherics (e.g., the servicescape
[Bitner 1990], the service environment "clues" [Berry,
Carbone, and Haeckel 2002]) influence the purchase deci-
sion. In retailing and consumer products research, much
emphasis has been placed on the shopping experience (e.g.,
Baker et al. 2002; Ofir and Simonson 2007). With the myriad
touch points and resulting information overload, concepts
such as choice overload, purchase confidence, and decision
satisfaction might also be relevant to consider. These may
induce customers to stop searching and either complete or
defer the purchase, which has been extensively shown in
assortment research (e.g., Broniarczyk, Hoyer, and McAlister
2Note that because such a significant amount of research in
consumer behavior has focused on specific aspects of these three
stages of the customer experience, we do not try to provide an
exhaustive literature review here, since that is not the focus of this
article. Rather, our aim is to contextualize this research through the
lens of customer experience. We refer the reader to more exhaustive
literature reviews, such as Hoyer and Maclnnis (2007) or Robertson
and Kassaijian (1991).
76 / Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, November 2016
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1998; Iyengar and Lepper 2000). Research investigating the
purchase stage of the journey has been extended into digital
environments as well (e.g., Elberse 2010; Manchanda et al.
2006).
Postpurchase. The third stage - postpurchase - encompasses
customer interactions with the brand and its environment
following the actual purchase. This stage includes behaviors
such as usage and consumption, postpurchase engagement,
and service requests. Similar to the prepurchase stage, theo-
retically, this stage could extend temporally from the purchase
to the end of the customer's life. Practically speaking, this stage
covers aspects of the customer's experience after purchase that
actually relate in some way to the brand or product/service
itself. The product itself becomes a critical touch point in this
stage. Research on this third stage has focused on the con-
sumption experience (e.g., Holbrook and Hirschman 1982);
service recovery (e.g., Kelley and Davis 1994); and decisions
to return products (e.g., Wood 2001), repurchase (e.g., Bolton
1998), or seek variety (e.g., McAlister and Pessemier 1982), as
well as other nonpurchase behaviors such as word of mouth
and other forms of customer engagement (e.g., Van Doom
et al. 2010). Recent managerial research has extended this
process to include the "loyalty loop" as part of the overall
customer decision journey (e.g., Court et al. 2009), suggesting
that during the postpurchase stage, a trigger may occur that
either leads to customer loyalty (through repurchase and
further engagement) or begins the process anew, with the
customer reentering the prepurchase phase and consider-
ing alternatives.
Given this perspective on the customer purchase journey,
what does this suggest that firms should do? First, firms
should seek to understand both the firm and customer per-
spectives of the purchase journey, identifying key aspects in
each stage. Second, firms should begin to identify the specific
elements or touch points that occur throughout the journey.
Third, firms should attempt to identify specific trigger points
that lead customers to continue or discontinue in their pur-
chase journey.
Types of Touch Points in the Customer Journey
Within the customer journey, existing studies suggest that
different customer touch points can be identified (e.g.,
Baxendale et al. 2015; De Haan, Wiesel, and Pauwels 2016).
We identify four categories of customer experience touch
points: brand-owned, partner-owned, customer-owned, and
social/external/independent. The customer might interact
with each of these touch point categories in each stage of the
experience. Depending on the nature of the product/service or
the customer's own journey, the strength or importance of
each touch point category may differ in each stage. Attri-
bution models (discussed subsequently) can help identify the
most critical touch points at each stage for each customer.
Once they are identified, firms then need to determine how
key touch points can be influenced.
Brand-owned touch points. These touch points are cus-
tomer interactions during the experience that are designed and
managed by the firm and under the firm's control. They in-
clude all brand-owned media (e.g., advertising, websites, loyalty
 FIGURE 1
Process Model for Customer Journey and Experience

Current Customer Experience (t)

Feedback

Previous Experience w y + w (t + n)
(t~n) A

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customer

Understanding Customer Experience 1 77

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updates by the firm to its own functionality and design, and Mayzlin 2006). However, social media effects of customer
suggesting that partners may also influence some brand- experience have not been widely reported.
owned touch points. It is important to emphasize that our typology is much
broader than the one used in the media/advertising literature,
Customer-owned touch points. These touch points are
which distinguishes among paid, owned, and earned media
customer actions that are part of the overall customer expe-
(e.g., Kotier and Keller 2015). In our approach, we do not
rience but that the firm, its partners, or others do not influence
merely consider media but also consider channel partners,
or control. An example would be customers thinking about
customers, and contexts as touch points. Still, there is some
their own needs or desires in the prepurchase phase. During
overlap in that paid media would, in our model, be considered
purchase, the customer's choice of payment method is pri-
brand-owned or partner-owned, whereas earned media would
marily a customer-owned touch point, although partners may
typically be social and external touch points. Other researchers
also play a role. Customer-owned touch points are most critical
have made the distinction between firm-initiated and customer-
and prevalent postpurchase, when individual consumption and
initiated touch points (e.g., Anderl, Schumann, and Kunz 2016;
usage take center stage. One could argue that this touch point
De Haan, Wiesel, and Pauwels 2016); in this case, brand-owned
type is the classic role of the customer in the early buying
and partner-owned touch points would be more firm-initiated,
process models (e.g., Howard and Sheth 1969). This role has,
whereas the customer-owned and social/external touch points
however, been extended because customers can be cocrea-
would be more customer-initiated.
tors of value, independently or jointly with firms (e.g., Vargo
This typology of touch points provides firms with an
and Lusch 2004). For example, consider situations in which
organizing framework for understanding potential leverage
customers use products in ways not intended by the firm.
points in the customer experience. For example, firms can
"IKEA hacking" (www.ikeahackers.net) is one such exam-
identify the touch points in the journey that they own or can
ple; here, customers post innovative ways they have repur-
influence and be cognizant of those touch points that they
posed, or "hacked," IKEA products. Alternatively, consider
have no or minimal influence over (customer-owned, social/
product instructional videos on YouTube. A recent study by
external).
Google (Mogenson 2015) suggests that, in the past year,
more than 100 million hours of such videos were watched
in North America alone; many of these videos were uploaded Dynamics and External Influences
by consumers, not firms.
It is important to consider how past experience - at each stage
Social/external touch points. These touch points rec-of the customer's experience (prepurchase, purchase, and
ognize the important roles of others in the customer expe- postpurchase) - may influence his or her current experience.
rience. Throughout the experience, customers are surroundedSpecifically, Verhoef, Neslin, and Vroomen (2007) highlight
by external touch points (e.g., other customers, peer influ- interrelationships between channel attitudes in different pur-
ences, independent information sources, environments) thatchase phases. They show that attitudes toward the search
may influence the process. Peers may exert influence, soli- ability of channels are positively related to attitudes on the
cited or unsolicited, in all three stages of the experience. purchase ability of channels. Beyond that, past experiences
Other customers, through extrarole behavior or simplycan affect current experiences through expectation formation
through proximity, may influence customers, especially dur-and stickiness in experience evaluations (Lervik-Olsen, Van
ing the purchase process or for products and services for Oest, and Verhoef 2015). These effects have consistently
which consumption occurs at or right after purchase (e.g.,been shown in customer satisfaction research at both the in-
theaters, concerts, restaurants, sporting events, mobile apps)dividual and aggregate levels (e.g., Bolton and Drew 1991;
(e.g., Baxendale, Macdonald, and Wilson 2015; Risselada,Rego, Morgan, and Fornell 2013; Verhoef and Van Doom
Verhoef, and Bijmolt 2014). These effects can be substantial 2008). Bolton and Lemon (1999) show that prior experience
and comparable to or even larger than advertising effects influences current satisfaction, which in turn influences future
(Baxendale et al. 2015). There is some evidence that the usage. Research has also suggested that dynamic effects of
social environment also influences the experience (e.g., Lincustomer experience can occur within customers as customers
and Liang 2011). Third-party information sources, such as themselves change over time after repeated experiences with a
review sites (e.g., Trip Advisor) and social media, also exert product or after a specific experience. Specifically, customers
influence on customers. Sometimes such sources are inde- develop relationships with brands (Fournier 1998), which in-
pendent; sometimes they are more closely aligned with the fluence their identity (Bhattacharya and Sen 2003). Customer
brand or firm (e.g., Manchanda, Packard, and Pattabhiramaiah decisions become routinized (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995), and
2015); and sometimes they may be considered partner touchextraordinary experiences have long-lasting effects (Arnould
points. Within the marketing literature, social media, in par-and Price 1993).
ticular, has gained strong attention. For example, De Vries, We also recognize the potential impact of broader exter-
Gensler, and Leeflang (2012) consider the formation of brandnalities on the customer experience (Verhoef et al. 2009). For
"likes." Social media's effects on sales and its interactions with example, external environments can act as influential drivers of
attitudes and firm-owned touch points have also been exam- the customer experience (e.g., poor weather diminishing the
ined (e.g., Onishi and Manchanda 2012; Pauwels, Aksehirli, value of an outdoor sporting event; political events influencing
and Lackman 2016). The role of reviews in the purchasethe value of purchase or consumption of a product or service).
process has also extensively been documented (e.g., ChevalierThe specific external context in which an experience arises can

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also have a significant influence (e.g., drinking a beer when it is
very hot outside vs. drinking a beer because one doesn't trust
the drinking water). Firms such as IBM and Microsoft are
starting to capitalize on this macro aspect of the customer
experience, as evidenced by IBM's acquisition of the Weather
Company (www.weather.com) and its integration into IBM's
customer experience management platform, as well as Micro-
soft' s partnership with Accuweather. On a macro level, the state
of the economy may also affect the customer experience (e.g.,
Fornell, Rust, and Dekimpe 2010; Kumar et al. 2014). Recent
research has shown the impact of major internal events (e.g.,
service crises) on customer experience: these crises have both
short- and long-term effects, and more effort is required to
achieve the same customer experience than before such crises
(Gijsenberg, Van Heerde, and Verhoef 2015). These events can
also be sectorwide (e.g., financial crises), with similar mecha-
nisms at work. Importantly, all these events can affect how
specific touch points contribute to the overall customer expe-
rience (e.g., Hunneman, Verhoef, and Sloot 2015; Ou et al.
2014). Similarly, we also expect competitor actions to influence
customer experience. Overall, current understanding of the dy-
namics and externalities of the customer experience suggests the
following insights:
• The customer's dynamic external environment can have a
significant influence on customer experience.
• Extreme crises can have a strong, negative, and enduring
effect on the customer experience.
• The economic situation (i.e., recession, expansion) influences
the customer experience across firms, and the drivers of
customer experience may depend on the economic situation.
Understanding the Customer View: Customer
Journey Analysis
A major consideration when studying customer experience is
an understanding of the customer journey. In the following
subsections, we focus on insights from marketing scholarship
in three areas: mapping out and analyzing the customer
journey, how understanding multichannel customer jour-
ney touch points can facilitate customer experience design,
and how emerging mobile channels influence the customer
journey.
In a customer journey analysis, firms focus on how
customers interact with multiple touch points, moving
from consideration, search, and purchase to postpurchase,
consumption, and future engagement or repurchase. The
goals of the analysis are to describe this journey and
understand the customer's options and choices for touch
points in multiple purchase phases (Verhoef, Kooge, and
Walk 2016). Customer journey analysis has its roots in both
service management and multichannel management (e.g.,
Bitner, Ostrom, and Morgan 2008; Neslin et al. 2006). The
focus of the customer journey, though, is a bit different, in that
its goal is to understand the myriad possibilities and paths a
customer may take to complete his or her "job." Multichannel
researchers have typically adopted the traditional purchase
funnel and considered the multiple phases a customer moves
through in the process from search to purchase. Service man-
agement research has usually focused on specific service
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encounters (e.g., visit to a hotel) and how each element in the
service design (e.g., interface with registration desk, bottle
of water in hotel room) contributes to the overall service
experience. Given the limited empirical work on the customer
journey itself, here we focus on insights from service blue-
printing, multichannel management, and mobile channel
management as three key elements in understanding the
customer journey.
Service blueprinting. The service management literature
uses knowledge about the customer journey to develop an
optimal service design. For this purpose, Bitner et al. (2008)
develop the so-called service blueprinting methodology,
which they refer to as a customer-focused approach for
service innovation and service improvement. The method-
ology has many similarities to business process improve-
ment and total quality management modeling approaches.
Service blueprinting maps out the entire service delivery
process from back-office internal processes to front-facing
customer interactions. The methodology is often some-
what internally oriented in that it typically builds employee
insights (e.g., through ideation or brainstorming) into the
service delivery process and service design (see also
process-chain-network analysis; Sampson 2012). Although
firms frequently use service blueprinting and customer
journey analysis based on such internal techniques, one main
concern is that these techniques are not sufficiently customer
focused. Bitner et al. (2008) raise concerns about the po-
tential lack of customer focus using service blueprinting,
which may explain why many internal process-oriented
customer journey approaches are not effective. Moreover,
given the dynamic developments in (digital) technologies,
customer behavior, and the competitive landscape, such
internally developed customer journeys may easily become
obsolete. The service blueprinting literature suggests two
key insights:
• Service blueprinting can provide a solid starting point for
customer journey mapping.
• Customer journey analysis should understand and map the
journey from the customer perspective and, therefore, requires
customer input.
Multichannel perspective. Perhaps the most developed
aspect of customer journey analysis is in the multichannel
literature. Although it mainly considers channel choice be-
havior, it offers key insights into analyzing, managing, and
influencing the customer journey. Initially, studies focused
on the choice of one specific channel, such as catalogs and
direct mailings (e.g., Eastlick and Feinberg 1999; Leeflang
et al. 2013), online channels (e.g., Ansari, Mela, and Neslin
2008; Venkatesan, Kumar, and Ravishanker 2007), and
mobile channels (Ko, Kim, and Lee 2009; Wang, Malthouse,
and Krishnamurthi 2015). Since the arrival of e-commerce,
an enormous amount of studies have assessed the drivers of
online channel use. These include socio- and psychographics,
perceived benefits and costs, social influence, marketing-mix
instruments, and past purchase behavior (e.g., Ansari, Mela,
and Neslin 2008; Bilgicer et al. 2015; Melis et al. 2015).
Given the large number of studies in this area, there is an
urgent need for a meta-analysis on the drivers of channel
Understanding Customer Experience 1 79
choice (Verhoef, Kannan, and Inman 2015). Taking a more 2014). Knowledge on mobile channels is still limited. A
multichannel focus, studies have considered the choices of major question is whether mobile and, perhaps, tablets are
multiple channels across multiple phases of the customer new channels or just other devices used to shop, partially
experience, and these studies identify specific multichannel replacing desktop devices. Mobile channels have specific
usage patterns and multichannel segments (e.g., De Keyser, characteristics that make them more suitable for search and
Schepers, and Konu§ 2015; Konu§, Verhoef and Neslin less suitable for purchase (e.g., Chaffey 2016; De Haan et al.
2008). These studies have typically used surveys to measure 2015). Importantly, mobile channels also directly interfere
channel choices in different phases. Verhoef, Neslin, and and interact with other channels. For example, the increas-
Vroomen (2007) provide strong evidence for the presence ingly prevalent act of showrooming likely occurs because
of the research shopper, a customer who searches in one customers can search in the store on their mobile device for
channel and purchases in another. More recently, scholars the best offer online (Rapp et al. 2015). In this sense, mobile
have analyzed research shopping in a more fine-grained may enhance cross-channel synergies because customers us-
manner by considering "showrooming" (search in store, buy ing mobile devices may be able to attain lower prices while
online) and "webrooming" (search online, buy in store) (e.g., also experiencing smart-shopper feelings (e.g., believing that
Brynjolfsson et al. 2013; Rapp et al. 2015). In turn, these they received a bargain, succeeding in negotiations with store
studies have been extended to examine postpurchase channels employees) (Verhoef, Neslin, and Vroomen 2007). Mobile
as well (De Keyser, Schepers, and Konu§ 2015; Gensler, also offers new marketing tactics for firms. For example, it
Verhoef, and Böhm 2012).3 enables retailers to provide tailored, time-sensitive, and location-
Importantly, studies have also aimed to investigate the sensitive advertising and promotions in store as well as per-
mechanisms underlying these subsequent channel choices. sonalized marketing offers (Bart, Stephen, and Sarvary 2014;
Verhoef et al. (2007) provide evidence for three mecha- Chung, Rust, and Wedel 2009; Hui et al. 2013). At that stage,
nisms for research shopping: search and purchase attribute mobile becomes a firm-initiated touch point.
advantages of specific channels, lack of lock-in in the channel So far, research on the use of mobile in the purchase funnel
has been limited and has mainly been done in practice. Con-
during the purchase funnel, and the presence of cross-channel
synergies. Gensler, Verhoef, and Böhm (2012) reveal similar versely, academic research has mainly considered the effects of
mechanisms and also consider channel inertia over time as mobile promotions and the adoption of mobile shopping on
an explanation for customer loyalty to channels in differ-purchase behavior (e.g., Hui et al. 2013; Wang, Malthouse, and
ent phases (for a discussion of channel inertia, see Konu§, Krishnamurthi 2015). Initial evidence has suggested positive
Neslin, and Verhoef 2014; Melis et al. 2015). These studies effects of mobile promotion on in-store spending and mobile
focus on the notion that channels have specific benefits andshopping order frequency. One promising avenue of research
costs and that some channels are more useful in specific investigates how touch-screen devices (vs. mouse-click de-
stages of the purchase funnel. Given the evolving techno- vices) influence customer decision making. Brasei and Gips
logical developments of channels and the diffusion of chan- (2014) find that touching an item (on a tablet or smartphone)
nels, however, the distinction in benefits and costs betweenleads to a greater sense of ownership and attachment than
channels (especially online and offline) is shrinking (i.e., risk to clicking on the item (on a desktop or laptop). Follow-up
pay online reduces; more visual effects online). In summary, research (Brasei and Gips 2015) shows that a direct-touch
here is what we know about the role of channels in the customer interface increases the number of alternatives searched and
journey: changes the importance weights of specific attributes. Related

• Channels differ in benefits and costs, often making one

channel more useful for a specific stage in the purchase
funnel than other channels. These differences are, however,
shrinking due to technological developments and diffusion
of new channels.
• Customers differ in their preference and usage of channels
across different purchase phases, and specific multichannel
segments can be identified that differ in terms of consumer
characteristics.
research (Klesse, Levav and Goukens 2015) suggests that how
people express their preferences (verbally vs. pressing a button)
influences their self-control. Additional research is clearly re-
quired on the use of the mobile channel as a touch point and
how it affects the customer journey. In summary, regarding
mobile, research has suggested the following:
• Mobile device channels interact and may interfere with existing
channels.

• Channel choices in the purchase funnel are affected by one
another because of lock-in effects, channel inertia, and cross-
channel synergies.
Mobile. The introduction of new channels and touch
points may induce even more switching across channels and
• Mobile device channels offer new location-based, time-
sensitive opportunities to create firm-initiated touch points.
• Mobile channels appear to be better suited for search than for
purchase.
• Mobile devices' direct-touch interface appears to significantly
influence the customer journey.

add even more complexity to the customer journey. Perhaps

most important is the increasing importance of the mobile
channel (e.g., Brinker, Lobaugh, and Paul 2012; Husson et al. Customer Experience Measurement
Customer Experience Measurement
3Recent figures show that these behaviors are common, with 73%
Customer experience measurement plays a critical role in
of surveyed U.S. customers having showroomed and 88% having
webroomed (Edwards 2014). making insights actionable for the firm. At a high level,

80 1 Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, November 2016

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firms attempt to measure and assess customers' overall ex-
perience with the firm through a myriad of metrics. Ideally,
we would have proven measurement approaches for the over-
all customer experience, at each stage in the customer journey
(prepurchase, purchase, and postpurchase) and for all touch
points. Current research and practice, however, is much more
fragmented. Recently, scholars and practitioners have started
to measure the overall customer experience. This field is in its
early stages of development, with many such scales still be-
ing evaluated and reviewed for their internal and external
validity. While no strong customer experience scales have been
developed, Brakus et al. (2009) develop a brand experience
scale that measures four aspects of the customer brand
experience - sensory, affective, intellectual, and behavioral -
identifying relationships between brand experience and
brand personality, satisfaction, and loyalty. Recent initial ad-
vances by marketing scholars include scale developments by
Maklan and Klaus (2011), Klaus and Maklan (2012), and
Verleye (2015). Klaus and Maklan (2012, 2013) propose an
alternative approach to measuring customer experience quality ;
they identify four facets of customer experience: peace of
mind, moments of truth, outcome focus, and product expe-
rience (see also Klaus 2015). Marketing practitioners have
also proposed measures typically focusing on assessing the
voice of the customer across the entire experience (Schmidt-
Subramanian 2014; Temkin and Bliss 2011).
These overall customer experience measures have yet to
gain traction in marketing practice. This may be due to their
recency or, perhaps more likely, the difficulty in developing
a single set of measures that adequately captures customer
experience across industries and channels. At this point, it
may be more fruitful to consider existing approaches that
have been validated across many industries, such as the five
key dimensions of service quality: reliability, assurance, tan-
gibles, empathy, and responsiveness (Parasuraman, Zeithaml,
and Berry 1988; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1996), as a
starting point to guide efforts toward an overall customer
experience measurement approach.
The most developed aspect of customer experience mea-
surement concerns customer perceptions of parts of the
journey or of the overall customer experience. In marketing
practice, we observe a strong use of such customer feedback
'metrics as ań easy measurement of the customer experience.
These metrics typically do not capture the full customer
experience as we define it in this article. Rather, firms tend to
use simple, usually single-item measures that are easily
understood by top management and can be included in mar-
keting dashboards. Firms tend to measure specific aspects of
customer experience, such as customer perceptions at a point
in time, for a single transaction, or as an overarching per-
ception. Customer satisfaction has been the dominant cus-
tomer feedback metric for years, and marketing and consumer
researchers have conducted thousands of studies on the
antecedents of satisfaction, the measurement of customer
satisfaction (in specific contexts), and the behavioral and
financial consequences of customer satisfaction (e.g.,
Bolton and Drew 1991).
Despite strong evidence of customer satisfaction as an
important metric within marketing science, consultants have
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proposed new metrics. Specifically, Reichheld (2003) suc-
cessfully proposed the NPS as a new metric, and leading firms
have adopted it, partially because of its intuitive nature. Its
success may also be due to firms' dissatisfaction with the
customer satisfaction metric because changes in this score are
often considered limited and firms might not have known
how to influence it. As a consequence, large (yearly) reports
were often written, but the results were not used. Today,
some firms report NPS in their internal (daily, weekly, and
monthly) dashboards, as well as in their annual reports to
shareholders. Researchers have also suggested that NPS is
more of a forward-looking metric, whereas satisfaction is
more of a backward-looking metric (Zeithaml et al. 2006).
In a more recent article, Dixon, Freeman, and Toman (2010)
propose the Customer Effort Score (CES) as a new feedback
metric. Marketing scientists have been rather skeptical about
these claims. Although these new metrics have some intuitive
power, they lack strong theoretical development, focus on a
rather specific domain (CES), and use rather ad hoc trans-
formations (NPS). De Haan, Verhoef, and Wiesel (2015)
provide a classification of different metrics. They consider
two dimensions: focus/scope of the metric and transformation
of the metric. They also consider the top-two-box score of
customer satisfaction as well as the absolute value of NPS
without a transformation.
Since the introduction of NPS, researchers have in-
vestigated the predictive quality of different metrics. One
problem of early studies of NPS is that they did not use a
similar metric for NPS (e.g., Keiningham et al. 2007; Morgan
and Rego 2006). The general conclusion of the early studies
was that NPS is not a metric that should be preferred to
customer satisfaction. More recent studies have provided a
more nuanced view. Van Doom, Leeflang, and Tijs (2013)
report no strong differences between NPS and customer
satisfaction, although the link with some financial metrics
and customer feedback metrics is generally low. De Haan,
Verhoef, and Wiesel (2015) examine the predictive power of
these metrics for customer retention and conclude that dif-
ferences between NPS and satisfaction are small, although
their results seem to prefer transformed metrics (i.e., top-two-
box satisfaction) capturing nonlinear effects arising from, for
example, customer delight (e.g., Oliver, Rust, and Varki 1997).
However, they show that NPS and customer satisfaction
strongly outperform CES and also suggest that combining
metrics improves predictive performance. Finally, they report
differences between industries without finding systematic
patterns. Recent research has also focused on the value of
relative metrics (e.g., satisfaction relative to competitors) as
potential good predictors of customer behavior (Keiningham
et al. 2015). The studies thus far suggest the following:
• There is not yet agreement on robust measurement approaches
to evaluate all aspects of customer experience across the cus-
tomer journey; long-tested approaches, such as SERVQUAL,
may offer a good starting point.
• Customer satisfaction and NPS perform equally well in pre-
dicting firm performance and customer behavior, although the
predictive performance differs between specific contexts.
• Transformations of metrics to account for potential nonlinear
effects due to notions such as customer delight are useful.
Understanding Customer Experience 1 81
 • Customer feedback metrics focusing on a specific domain of Wang, Malthouse, and Krishnamurthi 2015). One general
the customer experience (e.g., Customer Effort Score) are not problem here is the selection effect because migrated cus-
strong in predicting future performance. tomers are inherently different than nonmigrated customers.
• Multiple customer feedback metrics predict customer behavior Accounting for this econometrically (i.e., using propensity
better than a single metric.
scoring) is essential. Neslin and Shankar (2009), Verhoef
(2012), and Verhoef, Kannan, and Inman (2015) provide
Measuring Effects of Customer Touch Points overviews of these issues.
A customer journey perspective should consider the effects In summary, studies that focus on influencing the cus-
of multiple touch points encountered in a specific journey on tomer journey have suggested that customers go through a
the ultimate purchase (or other behavioral) outcome. These journey using multiple touch points and that these touch
models are referred to as attribution models or sometimes points affect one another. Notably, these studies have mainly
path-to-purchase models. Such models have mainly gained focused on sales/conversion effects and not on the customer
interest in online environments, in which customers interact experience in different stages. The following key insights
with multiple touch points and online retailers try to deter- arise from these studies:
mine the contribution of each touch point to the final pur-
• When moving through the customer journey to purchase,
chase to improve their allocation of online marketing budgets customers use and are exposed to multiple touch points that
across these touch points. One general problem with mod- each have direct and more indirect effects on purchase and
eling this behavior is that multiple (and often distinct) touch other customer behaviors.

points occur in different phases of the funnel. As a con- • Although it is a complex and difficult endeavor, it is important
sequence, touch point effects can be endogenous, leading to to identify critical touch points ("moments of truth") throughout
erroneous conclusions and resource allocation. For example, the customer journey that have the most significant influence on
key customer outcomes.
when a customer explores options using Google, he or she
might be less likely to buy, given his or her exploration stage,
than when a customer enters the website directly (direct load)
at the end of the purchase funnel. Customer Experience Management
As with traditional market response models, we observe The literature on customer experience management is rather
two modeling approaches. First, studies have estimated ag- scarce. Managerial-oriented books have been written about
gregated sales models using aggregate sales data and aggre- how to manage the customer experience (e.g., Schmitt 2003).
gate budget allocations toward touch points (including mass Schmitt (2003, p. 17) defines customer experience manage-
advertising) and other data, such as social media metrics (e.g., ment as the process of strategically managing a customers'
De Haan, Wiesel and Pauwels 2016; Srinivasan, Pauwels, entire experience with a product or company. In Schmitt' s
and Rutz 2016). These models can account for traditional framework, customer experience management consists of
media, but they do not model the individual customer five steps: (1) analyzing the experiential world of the cus-
journey. A second modeling approach uses individual-level tomers, (2) building the experiential platform, (3) designing
clickstream data to estimate conversion rates and order size the brand experience, (4) structuring the customer experi-
in online stores. Li and Kannan (2014) develop a model in ence, and (5) engaging in continuous innovation. In this
which they predict touch point consideration and use and the
discussion, customer touch points do not have a prominent
impact of touch points on purchase. The model allows them position. However, multiple practice-oriented authors have
to examine carryover and spillover effects of different touch
stressed the importance of customer experience management
points. Xu, Duan, and Whinston (2014) also model inter- across customer touch points (e.g., Edelman and Singer 2015;
actions between different touch points over time and their Rawson, Duncan, and Jones 2013). This view is also reflected
effects on purchase. Anderl, Schumann, and Kunz (2016) in one of the few academic studies on the topic (Homburg
et al. 2015), which defines customer experience manage-
use a hazard model to consider the effects of touch points and
their interactions on purchase. These models provide more in- ment as "the cultural mindsets toward customer experiences,
depth insights into how customers use specific touch points, strategic directions for designing customer experiences, and
the effects of these touch points, and how usage of one touch firm capabilities for continually renewing customer experi-
point influences the usage and effectiveness of other touch ences, with the goals of achieving and sustaining long-term
points. However, they frequently fail to provide insights into customer loyalty" (p. 8). In this study's discussion of these
the effects of traditional media, with their strong focus on elements, management of the customer experience across
online being firm- or customer- initiated online touch points different touch points in a customer journey is prominent.
(Li and Kannan 2014). Homburg and colleagues note that firms should be able to
Purchase consequences of the use of and migration to design the journey across multiple touch points, building on a
touch points in the customer journey have mainly been firm's own capabilities as well as working in alliances; the
studied in the multichannel, online, and service marketing authors also argue for an experience-oriented mindset with-
literature streams. Research in the multichannel literature has in firms, which seems clearly linked to a customer-centric ori-
mainly devoted attention to how channel migrations (i.e., entation (e.g., Shah et al. 2006). Importantly, they also
moving from catalog to online and offline to online) affect emphasize the importance of big-data analytical capabilities
individual purchase behaviors (e.g., Ansari, Mela, and Neslin for understanding and potentially personalizing the customer
2008; Gensler, Leeflang, and Skiera 2012; Hitt and Frei 2002; journey (see also Verhoef, Kooge, and Walk 2016; Wedel

82 / Journal of Marketing: AMA/MSI Special Issue, November 2016

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and Kannan 2016). Interestingly, some firms (e.g., Oracle)4 effects of integration, but some firm and customer con-
consider customer experience management a part of ad- tingencies exist.
vanced CRM. However, as discussed by Homburg et al. Specific touch points should contribute to customer ex-
(2015), customer experience management differs from perience in different stages. In the marketing and consumer
CRM on many aspects, and as we have discussed, CRM research literature, researchers have typically considered
has a stronger value extraction focus, whereas customer how attributes of and/or beliefs about touch points (e.g., ad-
experience management emphasizes value creation more vertisements, channels) affect evaluations and liking (e.g.,
strongly. We next focus on three specific aspects of customer Baker et al. 2002; Bart, Stephen, and Sarvary 2014; Gomez,
experience management: customer journey and touch point McLaughlin, and Wittink 2004; MacKenzie and Lutz 1989).
design, the role of alliances and network partners, and the The contributions (and interactions) of multiple touch points to
internal organization. the customer experience is, however, a neglected area. In
a recent study, Baxendale, Macdonald, and Wilson (2015)
Customer Journey and Touch Point Design evaluate the impact of multiple interactions and the valence
In addition to the customer journey analysis, both the service of these interactions with multiple touch points on brand
management literature and the multichannel literature have preference changes. Using the mobile real-time experience
begun to consider customer experience design. The objective tracking survey technology (Macdonald, Wilson, and Konu§
of the original service blueprinting approach was not only to 2012), they show that frequency and positivity of interactions
provide an efficient journey but also to try to provide an contribute to brand preference changes, with in-store com-
optimal experience to customers. Patrício, Fisk, and Falcão e munications, brand advertising, and peer observation having
Cunha (2008) extend the service blueprinting approach to the strongest effects. The strong positive effects of in-store
design interactions with touch points in such a way that the communication could be induced by the general strong power
customer experience is optimized. Empirically, in the early of promotions at the point of sale (e.g., Van Nierop et al.
phases of the service literature, researchers began investi- 2011), combined with their focus on brand preference. We
gating critical service encounters and how these encounters contend that there is an urgent need to extend Baxendale,
(not yet called "touch points") affect customer satisfaction Macdonald, and Wilson's (2015) work by considering a richer
(e.g., Berry, Seiders, and Grewal 2002; Bitner 1990), paying model to understand the effects of multiple touch point inter-
specific attention to service failures and recovery (e.g., Smith, actions across multiple stages in the experience. The following
Bolton, and Wagner 1999). Research has also begun inves- initial insights regarding customer journey design still need
tigating the effects of self-service technologies on customer further exploration:
perceptions and behavior (Meuter et al. 2000; Zhu et al. 2013). • A seamless experience across channels through channel
In general, this research area has focused on how interactions integration will create a stronger customer experience.
in the service delivery process affect customer experience - • The effect of an individual touch point may depend on when
typically measured as customer satisfaction. it occurs in the overall customer journey.
In the multichannel literature, researchers have mainly
considered the question of how interactions between chan-
Partner and Network Management
nels affect experience measures. Building on the notion that
customers should have a seamless experience across chan- Recently, customer journey mapping has begun to include the
nels, the multichannel literature has attempted to identify role of partners and external influences (Chandler and Lusch
synergies between channels (Neslin et al. 2006), although 2015). This research has expanded the customer journey
studies have also suggested some potential dissynergies, for view to a network perspective that recognizes the roles of
example, satisfied offline users are less likely to use the new communities, experience networks, service delivery networks,
online channel (e.g., Falk et al. 2007). New evidence has collaborators, and the broader ecosystem in which the expe-
provided more support for the positive effects of synergies. rience occurs (e.g., Tax, McCutcheon, and Wilkinson 2013).
Retailers with better integration between their channels tend One article defines a customer experience ecosystem as "the
to have stronger sales growth (Cao and Li 2015). Herhausen complex set of relationships among a company's employees,
et al. (2015) report that online-offline channel integration partners and customers that determines the quality of all cus-
reduces perceived risk of the online store and increases tomer interactions" (Bodine 2013, p. 7).
perceived quality of the online channel, resulting in positive Tax, McCutcheon, and Wilkinson (2013) examine the
choice effects for the online channel and reduced cannibal- entire service delivery network, which they describe as
ization in the offline channel. Focusing on assortment inte-encompassing all other services that might influence the
gration, Emrich, Paul, and Rudolph (2015) argue that full customer experience. They identify three specific forms that
integration in terms of the assortment is warranted; however, such an extended service delivery network might take. The
this does not equally hold for all firms. Similarly, Emrich andfirst, and the most typical, is the customer-coordinated net-
Verhoef (2015) find that integration in design between on-work. Here, the customer takes control of and responsibility
line and offline channels is beneficial only for store-orientedfor all external activities related to the focal experience (e.g.,
customers. In summary, evidence has shown the beneficial when dining at a restaurant, the customer coordinates the
reservation, transportation, payment, and any ancillary services
such as child care). This network results in low control and
4See https ://w ww.oracle.com/nl/applications/customer-experience/
crm/index.html. higher uncertainty for the firm. The second form is the

Understanding Customer Experience 1 83

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service-coordinator-based network, in which the customer technologies may be able to remove friction or pain points.
may outsource the planning to an event coordinator, such Second, Disney recognized the importance of seamlessness
as a travel agency. Here, the focal firm still has low control to its customers and created solutions that made it easier for
and potentially high uncertainty because coordination is customers to "get the job done." Third, Disney recognized
limited across all entities in the network. The third form is how redesigning the prepurchase stage of the experience (i.e.,
the firm-coordinated network, in which the firm takes the preplanning) could be helpful to customers in the purchase
lead role in connecting and coordinating all aspects of the and consumption stages (reducing uncertainty and waiting
customer's experience. In this network, the firm obtains time) and also helpful to Disney (managing capacity and
greater control, lower uncertainty, and additional insights flow). Fourth, managing the customer experience involves
into the entire customer experience (see also Patricio, Fisk, many functions, including service operations, IT, analytics,
and Constantine 2011; Patricio, Fisk, and Falcão e Cunha and marketing.
2008; Sampson 2012; Teixeira et al. 2012). Prován and Specific systems, such as IT, can serve to enhance the more
Kenis (2007) identify three forms of governance for such emotional components of the customer experience. For
partner networks: participant-governed networks (the par- example, consulting agency Pricewise developed a loyalty
ticipants govern themselves, formally or informally), lead- program called Go Pass for skiers for Slovakian Ski Resort.
organization-governed networks (one partner or organization The loyalty program provides three general benefits: (1)
takes the lead and directs the network), and network rational, (2) comfort, and (3) emotional. The rational benefits,
administrative organizations (a separate organization is such as a lower price or rewards, are typical for a standard
set up to administer the network). Overall, the literature loyalty program. Like Disney's Magic Band, the program
suggests the following: provides significant convenience throughout the customer
journey - when booking a visit to the ski area, when paying in
• When mapping and analyzing the customer journey, it is
critical to take the broader service delivery system into restaurants, and throughout the customer's ski experience. The
account. emotional element is achieved by using motivational schemes:
customers
• The benefit to the firm of taking a stronger role in the service receive rewards through participation and strong
performance in a skiing challenge, such as becoming a "King
delivery network is to reduce uncertainty in customer
experience delivery; this needs to be balanced against
of the the
Mountain" (Bijmolt and Verhoef 2016). Other cases
increase in costs and complexities associated with such an the importance of data science or big-data capa-
emphasize
expanded role.
bilities in developing a customer journey. For example, Royal
• As partner networks become more ubiquitous, choosing
Bank of the
Scotland learned about the mobile usage behavior of
appropriate governance models will be critical.
customers and developed a more streamlined mobile experi-
ence to increase mobile conversion rates.5
Internal Firm Perspective Research is required that aims to further conceptualize,
Managing the customer experience also affects themeasure,
firm. and assess performance consequences of customer
experience
Homburg et al. (2015) specifically mention the need for firms management in organizations, as well as to
to develop a customer experience response orientation.
consider potential moderating factors (i.e., cooperation
between functions). Key initial insights regarding cus-
Within the marketing literature, there has been extensive
attention on customer-centric orientations within firms
tomer experience management are as follows:
(e.g., Shah et al. 2006). In a CRM context, Ramani and • A customer-centric focus is an important facilitator within
Kumar (2008) develop a scale for the measurement of a firm's firms to create stronger customer experiences.
interactive customer orientation and show that this is pos- • Customer experience management requires a multidisciplinary
itively related to business performance. The extensive lit- approach in which multiple functions (i.e., IT, marketing,
erature on customer-centricity could be useful to further operations, customer service, human resources) cooperate
developing our understanding of a customer experience to deliver a customer experience.
response orientation. • Firms require specific capabilities (e.g., partner network man-
In addition, the literature suggests that firms should agement, customer analytics) to develop successful customer
experience strategies.
develop and master several mindsets and capabilities to
successfully manage the customer experience (HomburgTaken together, it is evident that insights regarding
et al. 2015), including the customer journey design and
customer experience and the customer journey come from
partner-network capabilities discussed previously, as wellmanyas sources across many decades. We provide a summary
analytical capabilities. Research on these capabilities is very
of what is currently known on the topic in Table 2.
scarce, and further development is definitely required. In the
Appendix, we provide the example of the management of a
customer journey with Disney, which introduced the Magic A Research Agenda for
Band as a way to measure and manage the customer jour- Customer Experience
ney as well as to create a stronger experience. What does The first goal in this article was to provide an overview of
this example suggest for designing and managing customer knowledge on customer experience in the marketing
experience going forward? First, firms have the opportunity
to take a fresh look at the customer's overall experience
5See http ://blogs . adobe.com/digitalmarketing/analytics/how-rbs-
and to determine whether and how new approaches and used-data-science-as-a-service-to-improve-customer-service/.

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discipline Here, we provide a research agenda for customer
experience (see Table 3), which we hope will stimulate re-
search and knowledge development in this area.
Drivers and Consequences of Customer Experience
Conceptualizing customer experience. We see much
room for additional research to strengthen the overall con-
ceptualization of customer experience and, especially, the
customer journey. There is a strong need to examine how
existing marketing constructs, such as service quality,
commitment, and customer engagement, relate to customer
experience and interact with one another, resulting in the
overall customer experience. There is a critical need for re-
searchers to develop and test such an integrated conceptual
model of customer experience and the customer journey. In
this article, we have sought to identify the key component
parts. Identifying the critical linkages and moderators is a
critical task for ñiture research.
results in stronger firm performance in terms of market
metrics (e.g., sales, market share) and in terms of financial
metrics (e.g., return on assets, shareholder returns). The
question is whether the additional investment in delivering
a successful experience enables organizations to achieve
positive returns.
Interplay and spillover of experiences and expectations.
Researchers frequently focus on specific firms, industries,
and contexts and usually adopt a micro approach. Cus-
tomers, however, experience thousands of experiences
in multiple sectors, firms, and countries. A key area that
research should consider is the extent to which customer
expectations in one domain spill over into other domains,
contexts, situations, and industries. For example, do superior
perceived customer experiences at Apple transfer to customer
expectations of mobile telecom operators, clothing retailers,
or restaurants? Similarly, do worse experiences in specific
industries transfer to other industries as well? At a macro

Understanding key drivers. Perhaps due to the lack of level, it is relevant to determine how macro developments
sound measurement development for customer experience, (e.g., economic crises, rising or decreasing oil prices; Ma
there is also a dearth of research on how customer experience et al. 2011) affect customer experiences and the extent to
can be influenced and on the consequences of customer which strong customer experiences in different sectors may
experience. Studies have mainly considered drivers of contribute to consumer well-being and general trust in
societies.
customer satisfaction or value (e.g., Baker et al. 2002;
Hunneman, Verhoef, and Sloot 2015) but have not consid-
ered the drivers of customer experience as a broad construct.
Customer Journey and Mapping
We strongly recommend that researchers go beyond the normal Deepening touch point understanding. We have iden-
paths with regard to the antecedents of customer experience tified four types of touch points that influence each stage
and assess the combined effects of the elements that make of the customer journey: brand-owned, partner-owned,
up the "raw data" of the customer experience (e.g., servicecustomer-owned, and social/external. Much research is
quality attributes, price image, brand, loyalty programs, needed to understand the relationships among these touch
external environments). The contributions of multiple andpoints and how they influence each stage of the customer
different types of touch points to customer experiences injourney. For example, how can a firm exert more control over
different phases of the customer journey require more atten- non-brand-owned touch points? Is it possible to turn a
tion. How do specific elements of the customer experiencepartner-owned touch point (or customer-owned, or social/
external) into a brand-owned touch point? At which stage(s)
(e.g., sensory, affective, cognitive) combine to influence the
customer at different points in the journey? Researchers might this be most effective? In addition, deeper understand-
should also take advantage of the increasing presence of ing is needed on the "moments that matter." Given what we
"big data" and integrate survey data with transaction,know about consumer behavior and behavioral economics,
channel, and operational data at both the aggregate andmight there be small nudges at relatively innocuous touch
individual levels (e.g., Bolton, Lemon, and Bramlett 2006; points that could have significant downstream influences on
Bolton, Lemon, and Verhoef 2008; Gijsenberg, Van Heerde,customer behavior?
and Verhoef 2015).
Advances in customer journey mapping. Yet another
Better linkages to outcomes. In terms of consequences, element of customer journey analytics is customer journey
we call for an integration of loyalty and purchase funnels. Themapping. There is an urgent need to go beyond the service
customer journey models to date have focused strongly onblueprint type of methodology. This mapping can be more
conversion as the sole outcome of the customer journey, data based, taking advantage of new technologies such as
while failing to acknowledge long-term loyalty effects of the Wi-Fi-based location services. Moreover, researchers could
customer journey; these long-term effects are acknowl-involve the customer by using customer self-journey map-
edged in practice, however (Court et al. 2009). Consequently,ping or asking customers to develop ideal customer journeys.
models that include both immediate purchase consequencesTouch points and journeys can become more adaptive -
(e.g., conversion rates) and long-term loyalty (e.g., re-moving toward personalized journeys and/or engaging cus-
purchase, retention, CLV) would be valuable. On an tomers in developing their own journey on the road. Finally,
aggregate level, studies are required that extend the we see a need to dive deeper into customer decision jour-
existing literature that links metrics, such as customerneys, to identify opportunities for intervention or in-
satisfaction, to firm performance (e.g., Anderson, Fornell, andfluence. Consider, for example, new technologies that
Mazvancheryl 2004) to the realm of customer experience -can identify potential anomalies in customer behavior
by showing that excelling at customer experience delivery(www.numenta.com). By identifying specific ways in which

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 TABLE 2
What We Know About Customer Experience
Topic What We Know

Customer experience dynamics • The

customer experience.
• Extreme crises can have a
experience.
• The economic situation (i.e., recession, expansion) influences the customer experience
across firms, and the drivers of customer experience may depend on the economic
situation.

Mapping the customer journey • Service blueprinting can provide a solid starting point for customer journey mapping.
• Customer journey analysis should understand and map the journey from the customer
perspective and, therefore, requires customer input into the process.

The multichannel journey • Channels differ in benefits and costs, often making one channel more useful for a specific
stage in the purchase funnel than other channels. These differences are, however,
shrinking due to technological developments and diffusion of new channels.
• Customers differ in their preferences and usages of channels across different purchase
phases, and specific multichannel segments can be identified that differ in terms of
consumer characteristics.
• Channel choices in the purchase funnel affect one another because of lock-in effects,
channel inertia, and cross-channel synergies.
The multidevice and mobile • Mobile device channels interact and may interfere with existing channels,
journey • Mobile device channels offer new location-based, time-sensitive opportunities to create
firm-initiated touch points.
• Mobile channels appear to be better suited for search than for purchase.
• Mobile devices' direct-touch interface appears to significantly influence the customer
journey.

Customer experience • There is not yet agreement on robust measurement approaches to evaluate all aspects of
measurement customer experience across the customer journey; long-tested approaches (e.g.,
SERVQUAL) may offer a good starting point.
• Customer satisfaction and NPS perform equally well in predicting firm performance an
customer behavior.
• Transformations of metrics to account for potential nonlinear effects due to theoretical
notions, such as customer delight, are useful.
• Customer feedback metrics focusing on a specific domain of the customer experience (i.e.,
Customer Effort Score) are not strong in predicting future performance.
• Multiple customer feedback metrics predict customer behavior better than a single
metric.

Effects of touch points • When moving through the customer journey to purchase, customers use and are exposed
to multiple touch points that each have direct and more indirect effects on purchase and
other customer behaviors.
• Although it is a complex and difficult endeavor, it is important to identify critical touch
points ("moments of truth") throughout the customer journey that have the most
significant influence on key customer outcomes.

Customer journey and experience • A seamless experience across channels through channel integration will create a stronger
design customer experience.
• The effect of an individual touch point may depend on
journey.

Partner and network management • When mapping and analyzing the customer journey, it is critical to take the broader service
delivery system into account.
• The benefit to the firm of taking a stronger role in the service delivery network is to reduce
uncertainty in customer experience delivery; this needs to be balanced against the
increase in costs and complexities associated with such an expanded role.
• As partner networks become more ubiquitous, choosing appropriate governance models
will be critical.

Internal firm perspective • A customer-centric focus is an important facilitator within firms to create stronger customer
experiences.
• Customer experience management requires a multidisciplinary approach in which multiple
functions (i.e., IT, marketing, customer service, human resources) cooperate to deliver a
customer experience.
• Firms require specific capabilities (e.g., partner network management, customer analytics)
to develop successful customer experience strategies.

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 TABLE 3
Research Agenda for Customer Experience (CX)
Topic Research Questions

Conceptualization, drivers • How does a furt

and consequences of management and marketing?
customer experience • What are the drivers of CX and how does this differ between industries and cultures?
• What are the consequences of CX?
• What are the components and linkages in an integrated model of CX and the customer journey?
How could such a model be tested?
• Can CX explain customer behavior and firm performance beyond existing constructs (such as
customer satisfaction or customer engagement)?
• What are the combined effects of CX at multiple touch points during different phases of the
customer journey on overall CX and customer behaviors (e.g., conversion, loyalty, WOM)?
• How can different sources of data (e.g., surveys, operational data, social media) be linked to
further elucidate the formation of CX?
• How do experiences in one domain or industry influence customer experiences in other
domains? What are the conditions for such expectation spillover to occur?
• Which macro developments influence CX across firms?
• What is the effect of improving CX across industries on consumer well-being?

Customer journey analysis, • Can the "purchase funnel" and the "loyalty funnel" be integrated in such a way that we can
design, and management understand short-term behavioral consequences as well as long-term loyalty effects of the
design of the customer journey?
• What is the optimal design for the customer journey for firms? Or do optimal designs not exist?
• How can touch points be seamlessly integrated across the journey (similar to channel
integration)? What models will enable firms to accomplish such integration?
• How can brands exert more control over non-"owned" touch points? Can such touch points be
turned into brand-owned touch points? At which stages of the journey?
• What is the role of the brand in the CX and customer journey?
• How do customer choices for touch points in the customer journey relate to each other? Do
these choices and influences change over time?
• How does the use of multiple devices across the journey influence CX and customer
behaviors?
• Can we identify anomalies in customer journeys - whereby customers deviate from habit or
predictions - and identify potential moments of influence?
• Can we identify new types of customer segments by their use of specific touch points in the
customer journey?

Customer experience • How can CX be measured while taking into account its rich, multidimensional nature?
measurement • How can we measure the CX construct across multiple touch points and journey stages? Are
different measures needed for different stages of the journey? Are there optimal moments to
measure? What fast, simple metrics could provide insight?
• How should firms link distinct metrics across the customer purchase journey?
• How does CX differ across industries, contexts, and cultures, and what does this imply for the
measurement of CX?
• What are the effects of different touch points on customer experience, conversion, and loyalty?
And how can integrated touch points make a difference?

New techniques for data • How can we capture CX data in situ? How can we capture and analyze the raw components of
collection and analysis CX without influencing the customer journey or experience?
• How can we incorporate new data and analytics into CX analysis (e.g., social listening, text,
photo and video analytics, location-based data) to further understand CX and the customer
journey?
• How can new neuroscientific approaches be used to measure CX?
• Can machine learning models be used to analyze the customer purchase journey and identify
opportunities for intervention and influence?

Customer experience • How should organizations be structured in order to successfully manage the customer
management experience?
• How can CX management be measured, and what is the effect of CX m
performance?
• What are the effects of specific capabilities and mindsets on CX man
• How do the distinctions between disciplines (functions) within firms
success of CX initiatives?
• How do organizations need to adapt to the complexity of the customer journey?
• How can firms effectively use technology in CX management?

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customers deviate from their habitual or expected customer through social listening techniques (e.g., mobile phones;
journeys, new opportunities for firms to influence the customer Macdonald, Wilson, and Konu§ 2012) and emerging tech-
journey may emerge. niques (e.g., text analytics, photo and video analytics,
location-based data) that use Wi-Fi networks and retail in-
Developing an omnichannel understanding across the
stare beacons. One potentially fruitful area - namely, picture-
journey. Researchers could evaluate not only the journeys
driven analytics - might shed more light on how consumers
themselves but also what drives these journeys, going beyond
experience specific events.
the widely available multichannel choice models. Within
We contend that the marketing research discipline has
the customer journey, specific phenomena require more at-
missed an opportunity in developing these techniques, which are
tention. Specifically, the phenomena of showrooming and
now being developed predominantly in IT (e.g., Chen, Chiang,
webrooming need to be explored further. Forward-looking
and Storey 2012). To date, marketing scholars have mainly used
models are required to understand customer motivations and
the output of this research (e.g., text analytics) but have not
expectations of the value of each channel throughout the
sufficiently contributed to the development of these techniques.
journey. For example, do customers believe that their
Digital sentiment indices have already been developed, but text
shopping utility is enhanced when they search offline and
analytics and other emerging techniques can also be used to
finally buy online? What is really driving such behavior? Do
measure experiences in specific touch points, such as call cen-
technological advances in advertising, such as shoppable
ters and e-mails (e.g., Verhoef, Antonides, and De Hoog 2004;
videos (Peterson 2015), enhance the customer experience?
Verhoef, Kooge, and Walk 2016). These approaches could be
The use of mobile and touch devices and their impact on
used to predict traditional survey feedback metrics or even
customer decisions require more attention and should be
replace them if they perform well as predictors.
considered a fruitful area for research.
Researchers are also beginning to consider neuro-
Segmentation and life stages versus cohorts. Another scientific approaches that enable more precise, in-the-moment
topic is the question of whether specific customer segments measures of customer experience. These techniques in-
prefer specific forms of touch points (e.g., Konu§, Verhoef, and clude eye tracking, electroencephalograms, functional mag-
Neslin 2008). For example, millennials may prefer electronic netic resonance imaging, biometrics, and facial coding. They
connections, whereas for other generations, in-person contact are just beginning to be applied to customer experience
(salespeople, customer service, and call centers) may remain (Lewiński 2015; Plassmann et al. 2015; Venkatraman et al.
crucial elements of the journey. Such preferences, and the 2012), with several global research firms investing in these
influence of specific touch points, may change over time. technologies (e.g., Nielsen, Ipsos, Millward Brown). We
Firms are confronted with operational challenges on how to expect that these approaches will soon complement attitu-
deliver a good experience to these heterogeneous, dynamic dinal survey measurements and provide new insights into the
segments (e.g., Leeflang et al. 2013). factors that influence the customer experience and how they
are linked to customer behaviors. Practice is moving forward
Customer Experience Measurement (Ha 2015), and marketing scientists need to catch up.
Scale development. There is an urgent need for the Attribution models across the customer journey. Customer
development of scales for measuring customer experience journey analytics have mainly developed quantitatively in the
across the entire customer journey. The current scales are not online environment by considering the attribution of different
as well developed as the high-impact measures in other touch points to purchase and sales (e.g., Li and Kannan 2014).
domains, such as service quality (SERVQUAL) and market This work should be extended to the offline world. For
orientation (MARKOR; Kohli, Jaworski, and Kumar 1993). example, researchers could examine not only sales effects but
The challenge facing researchers is to determine how the also how distinct touch points (brand, customer, partner, and
richness of the customer experience construct can be measured social/external) simultaneously contribute to the customer
succinctly and accurately across multiple touch points - and in experience in different phases of the customer journey. The
different stages of the journey. However, to foster the use of researcher could also build on the notion of channel integration
this scale - or scales - in practice, a comprehensive, short and extend it to the broader idea of "touch point integration." In
scale should be developed. This is an especially vexing doing so, the role of brands and brand identity would become
problem because simple and quick measures per touch point more prevalent, given the broad set of touch points and the
may be needed. In addition, studies that aim to understand dynamic nature of customer experience (Homburg, Jozić, and
why differences exist between industries are required. Under- Kuehnl 2015; Verhoef, Kannan, and Inman 2015).
standing how best to measure customer experience across
cultures is also relevant. Finally, it is important to show how Customer Experience Management:
the customer experience measure is distinct from other po- New Organizational Models
tentially related constructs (e.g., customer engagement).
So far, the customer journey and channel literature has made
Data. We urge researchers to consider new techniques little progress in explaining how firms can manage the entire
for data collection. On a higher level, we expect the avail- customer journey and experience. Management control is
ability of new sources of "big data" to lead to new approaches probably an illusion in an era in which customers are
for capturing customer experience data in situ. For example, empowered and "design" their own journeys. Regardless, we
we see the advent of new big data customer feedback metrics still find a significant gap in research on how firms can best

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manage the customers' journeys. The complexity of journeys
and the speed with which both technology and consumer
behavior are changing may require new and flexible or-
ganization models. Only recently has research explored the
specific underlying capabilities of customer experience
management and derived differences in market-driven and
customer relationship management (Homburg, Jozić, and
Kuehnl 2015). With the ubiquity of IT in many processes,
IT firms' working methodologies (such as agile and scrum
approaches) have begun entering marketing. Companies are
adopting new ways of organizing marketing functions to
remove existing silos around brands, customer segments,
channels, research/insights, and so on. For example, a large
Dutch bank, inspired by startups and IT companies such as
Spotify and Google, is transforming its marketing organ-
ization using marketing "tribes" (self-organizing marketing
teams). This transformation is in the very early stages, but it
indicates that firms are willing to make radical movements
toward more flexible, more customer-centric organizations
that enable them to manage the customer experience effec-
tively in increasingly fragmented markets. Marketing scholars
should investigate how firms organize to successfully manage
the customer experience.
Concluding Thoughts
Although human experience has been studied for hundreds
(if not thousands) of years, the field of customer experience
management is a relatively new "greenfield" area for future
research. However, it is important to recognize what we
already know about customer experience throughout the
customer journey - as we have been studying facets of it for
the past 50 years. In this article, we have sought to bring
together what is known about customer experience and the
overall customer journey from many aspects of marketing,
including customer satisfaction, customer management,
service quality, and relationship marketing, in addition to
specific research on customer experience. We have presented
an integrated view of customer experience across the cus-
tomer journey that we hope will be helpful in (1) organizing
what is known in this area and (2) stimulating future research.
There are many challenges to conducting research in this
area. The topic is dynamic and multidisciplinary, and it
requires multiple methods. Although some bright spots exist,
such as multichannel/omnichannel research, many aspects of
customer experience are void of strong marketing scholar-
ship. In several areas, marketing practice has a strong head
start. It is time to strengthen theory, understanding, and
knowledge in this critical area of marketing.
managing every possible interaction between the firm and the
customer through the customer journey, the complexity and
difficulty of the project is clear. We have tried to provide an
overview of key conceptual and analytic approaches to assist
in this endeavor. Because one of our goals in this article is
to identify best practice, in this Appendix we provide an
extended example of one firm that has taken this challenge
head-on: Disney. This enables us to delineate key aspects
of the process and to highlight the integral role of IT and
operations in the successful implementation of a customer
experience initiative.
Customer Experience Design
Disney's Magic Band technology and its online tool,
MyMagicPlus, work together to enable customers to create
their ultimate Disney experience. Disney has invested up-
ward of $1 billion in this venture to "root out all the friction
within the Disney World experience" (Kuang 2015, p. 7). By
removing all the pain points and sticking points in the current
Disney experience, executives believed they could transform
the Disney experience to free up customers to experience the
park more broadly. This new approach enables customers to
preplan their Disney experience and to identify specific times
to experience various rides and events in the park, including
personalized meetings with Disney characters, lunch reser-
vations, and rides on top attractions.
Role of Information Technology
Disney's new approach embeds technology throughout all
stages of the customer experience. Magic Bands (bracelet-
sized wristbands individualized for each family member on
the trip) arrive before the planned vacation and can be used
throughout the park. The band sensors enable guests to swipe
the band for entrance onto rides and into their hotel room, to
make purchases, or, most important, for Disney to find the
guest (for a meet-and-greet with a Disney character, to take
the perfect photo while the guest is on a ride, to deliver
preordered entrees to a guest's table, or to e-mail a coupon if a
guest happens to wait too long in line). Each Magic Band
contains an RFID chip, a radio, and a battery. It connects the
guest with up to 100 data systems in the park, streaming real-
time data about each guest and ensuring that all systems work
together to ensure a consistent, customized experience.
Reducing Friction and Optimizing Logistics
Disney believes that the combination of preplanning and
technological capabilities reduces critical friction areas such
as waiting time, frustration, and indecision, and that it
consequently improves overall customer experiences.
According to Tom Staggs, Disney's COO, "You get to be the

Appendix: Tools and Best hero, promising a ride or a meet-and-greet up front. Then you
can be freer to experience the park more broadly. You're
Practice for Customer
freed to take advantage of more rides" (Kuang 2015, p. 12).
Experience Management Staggs also notes, "If we can enhance the experience, more
Designing, managing, and monitoring the total customer
people will spend more of their leisure time with us" (Barnes
experience and enabling customers to optimize and2013).
cus- This combination also enables Disney to optimize
tomize the experience is a daunting task. When one con- logistics and the service ecosystem. By gaining data and
insight
siders what is involved in actually tracking, organizing, and into how people flow throughout the park, food,

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employees, and services can be located appropriately, reduc-
ing even more friction. The result? Customers spend more
and are happier, and Disney has a more efficient and effective
operation.
Strengthening Touch Points Throughout
the Experience
Disney's relatively closed service ecosystem has enabled the
firm to embrace new technology in innovative ways to reen-
gineer the customer experience. By encouraging and enabling
customers to preplan their experience, Disney is strengthening
the touch points in the prepurchase stage of the experience and
reducing uncertainty and frustration during the purchase
stage - the customer's visit to the park. The Magic Band
technology and its surrounding and supporting information
systems enable Disney to deliver a seamless, customized, and
surprisingly frictionless experience to its guests. It almost
enables Disney to anticipate its customers' needs. Postpurchase
and postconsumption, Disney's approach may have interesting
and potentially unintended consequences. As one of Disney's
Magic Band YouTube videos suggests, customers may expect
all service providers to be as seamless as Disney and may
wonder why their Magic Band does not work everywhere
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2buVLVO-6F8).

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